Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves (born 1983 in San Diego, California) is an American entrepreneur and investor best known as Uber's first employee and founding CEO. He graduated from Miami University (Ohio) in 2006 with an economics degree, where he was a member of the water polo club and Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Early in his career he worked at General Electric and talked his way into an internship at Foursquare. In February 2010, he became Uber's first employee after replying to a tweet from Travis Kalanick, initially serving as general manager and briefly as CEO. When Kalanick took over as CEO in December 2010, Graves moved to Chief Operating Officer and later served as Senior Vice President of Global Operations through roughly 2017.

Graves's Uber stake made him a billionaire; by 2019, when he resigned from Uber's board, he held approximately 31.9 million shares. He has since turned to investing and company-building through Saltwater, his family office and holding company, which he founded in 2017–2018. Saltwater oversees long-term private investments, acquisitions, and company incubations using exclusively his own capital.

Beyond investing, Graves is active in philanthropy and creative pursuits. He sits (or has sat) on the boards of charity: water (to which he has pledged at least 1% of his net worth), Pachama, Fever, and previously Metromile. He now lives on the north shore of Kauaʻi with his wife Molly, a former kindergarten teacher, and their four sons, and increasingly describes himself as a "creator and builder" — painting, songwriting, writing essays, and building small apps (e.g., a meditation app "The Sit" and email tool "RE.co").

• Partner equity model over traditional VC/PE. Saltwater is built around a Berkshire Hathaway–style holding-company approach. In Graves's words, "we believe it best aligns us and the founders/owners of the businesses we invest in" — giving portfolio companies full autonomy while providing capital, relationships, and operating experience.
• No forced-exit timeline. A core selling point: "knowing that their investors won't require an 'exit' on an arbitrary timeline is very valuable." Founders typically retain ~10–30% equity, though full buyouts are considered.
• Profitable, small software businesses are the primary target. Criteria include software-based (online/app), profitable (>~$500K annual profit), small (<~$10M revenue), with an established management team already in place.
• Angel investing is secondary. Saltwater "will continue to make angel investments into truly special technology companies, but it will not be their primary focus."
• People-first philosophy. Graves emphasizes founder quality and leadership, aiming to "put people first, show respect to a company's history, and optimize its future growth and earning potential," with "alignment and empowerment, with a focus on growth."